Are your communties affected by Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)?

The Pentagon is getting close to a final list of base closures through the BRAC process. I was wondering if your communities were affected. In Maryland, 2 bases could be affected; Patuxent River Naval Air Base in Lexington Park (southern MD) and Carderock which is a small naval base outside of Washington. Lexington Park will suffer if Pax River closes as well over the majority of the economy is based upon the air base.

In Omaha, Offutt Air Force Base was downgraded from a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base during the last round of BRAC closures. During the Cold War, Offutt was one of few SAC bases that were targeted by the former USSR and this Star remembers having civil defense drills in my elem. school. My elem. school also served as the fallout shelter for the neighborhood.

Moderator note:

(Dan) Just changed the thread title to include the meaning of the acronym BRAC, for the benefit of thost who aren't familiar with the term.

There are atleast 3 (I am sure there are more) areas in Michigan where BRAC decisions could affect Michigan. The Battle Creek area with The Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center, the Battle Creek Air National Guard base and the Fort Custer Army National Guard Base could be affected in one way or another. The Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County as well as the US Army's AutoTank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) is holding its breath.

There are atleast 3 (I am sure there are more) areas in Michigan where BRAC decisions could affect Michigan. The Battle Creek area with The Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center, the Battle Creek Air National Guard base and the Fort Custer Army National Guard Base could be affected in one way or another. The Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County as well as the US Army's AutoTank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) is holding its breath.

CNN is reporting that Navy Reserve Center in Marquette, Parisan U.S. Army Reserve Center in Lansing, Selfridge Army Activity near Detroit and the W.K. Kellogg Airport Air Guard Station in Battle Creek are slated to close.

"Growth is inevitable and desirable, but destruction of community character is not. The question is not whether your part of the world is going to change. The question is how." -- Edward T. McMahon, The Conservation Fund

CNN is reporting that Navy Reserve Center in Marquette, Parisan U.S. Army Reserve Center in Lansing, Selfridge Army Activity near Detroit and the W.K. Kellogg Airport Air Guard Station in Battle Creek are slated to close.

Ft. Riley

Ft. Riley is expecting 3,400 active duty, 4,700 dependents and 1,200 civilian personnel to move in over the next year. This will have a significant impact on the local economies of Junction City, Manhattan and small towns in the region. There is also talk about the full return of the 1st Division (Big Red One) in the next 3 to 4 years, which will have an even bigger wave of impacts. My region is a win in the BRAC sweepstakes.

It could have been worse for Michigan. I am not done looking at the numbers to see who got really nailed.
I can't really help thinking about how many domestic bases could have been saved if we closed some bases in foreign (cough Iraq cough) countries...But I guess that is a totally different discussion and already says way too much about my view on that topic.
I feel for the areas hit hardest.

Their closing Cannon Air Force Base, which is 8 miles west of Clovis, New Mexico. The only reason that town is alive is because of Cannon..... The bovine population within the City limits will eclipse humans real very soon. That town will be hurting --- PERIOD !!!

This list is alot less drastic then what had been expected..."The Mother of all BRACS"...instead alot of realignments and shuffles, and few outright closures of active duty bases...tho it looks like the various ANGs got hit....

Actually the reason there weren't more base closings is that we are bringing back around 70,000 troops from mainly Germany and South Korea. There is so much over-capacity that even with many troops returning, there is still the need for many closures and consolidation.

Originally posted by michiganplanner

It could have been worse for Michigan. I am not done looking at the numbers to see who got really nailed.
I can't really help thinking about how many domestic bases could have been saved if we closed some bases in foreign (cough Iraq cough) countries...But I guess that is a totally different discussion and already says way too much about my view on that topic.
I feel for the areas hit hardest.

San Antonio got tagged again. I'm a little shocked that Brooks City-base got hit since it just got the Southern command out of Puerto Rico and is pretty heavily used. The analysts here are saying that it ended up on the list because they use a lot of leases, something that the military puts no value on for some strange reason. The nice thing is that San Antonio does an excellent job redeveloping military bases and has been diversifying its economy away from being "Military City, USA".

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

I think the hit to the Washington DC area combined with the DOD set back rules will be sizable. One can only hope the local (and national) leaders see the error of their well intentioned ideas and not relocate so many offices out of urban centers to the distant burbs.

Remember this motto to live by: "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO- HOO what a ride!'"

a week late, but...

In Rome, NY, the BRAC commission closed Griffis Air Force Base and moved some 5,000 people (I may have made up that number) to other locations in 1995. The small city was hit hard and has yet to recover. Now, I've heard the city's claim to fame is that, because of a prison location, an incarcerated person's family can actually move into the city and get enrolled in the welfare program in less than 48 hours!! (and you thought the City'd have nothing to brag about!)

Currently, Rome Federal Research Lab (located on the former AFB) has a couple hundred employees, several of whom directly impact my life. They were sitting on pins and needles with this latest realignment, but we made the cut - just a handfull of people that are currently employed by other bases will now be reporting to that other base.

Update on San Antonio: They are sinking something like one billion into creating a major military medical center that in terms of quality, would be on par with Johns Hopkins, etc. San Antonio is becoming more and more of a biotech mecca.

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

Illinois dodged a huge bullet. They were supposed to shut down Springfield and Peoria ANG and Scott airforce base. Scott would have been the end for metro-east St. Louis. That area has already been kicked in the teeth so many times it doesn't have many left.

As it turns out they're only shutting down some reserve stations and Scott is gaining people.

I just returned from the Dakotas, including Rapid City, which will lose Ellesworth Air Force Base. This is the second-largest employer in the state, with an impact equal to 2% of the state's economy. A base in Texas will remain open instead. Hey, isn't there some big-shot politician from Texas?

It's funny how when the Clinton Admin wanted to close down bases, there was an uproar saying there were too many cuts in defense spending. All the conservatives went up in an uproar. Then of course 9/11 happened, the military spending went up. Now that there's military stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan primarily, there's no need for bases. They're all over in the Middle East "keeping the peace". (using that term loosely)

I think there's an opportunity to do some good things with all these military bases. Here in Toronto they converted a large portion of it to the largest urban park in Canada. There's still talk about housing going there but of course there's going to be large cleanup costs. There's still the bombardier plant and planes being built there every so often. So we'll see..

One place in the US that needs big time reviatlization and the opportunity is there is in Niagara Falls NY. That city is decrepid and down right crappy. it's a drastic difference from the Canadian side. Now if this is the opportunity to grow , they should take full advantage of it. I don't know if the casino will be built there but there needs to be a big makeover and done quickly. I really don't know how much of Niagara and Erie county went this far into making the places as crappy as they are today. Buffalo won an APA award for their urban design. Hopefully Niagara Falls follows suit.